Battle of Brandy Station

The Battle of Brandy Station (9 June 1863) was a large cavalry battle of the American Civil War that was fought between the 11,000-strong Union army under Alfred Pleasonton and the 9,500-strong Confederate army under J.E.B. Stuart in Culpeper County, Virginia. The Union cavalry force under Pleasonton launched a surprise attack against Stuart's cavalry as it was encamped near Brandy Station, six miles northeast of Culpeper, ensuring that the Army of the Potomac would not assault Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia as it prepared to invade Pennsylvania. In the largest cavalry battle fought on American soil, the two sides fought to a standstill, with the Union forces withdrawing without spotting any of Lee's infantry at Culpeper. The cavalry clash, however, ended the Confederate cavalry's dominance in the East for the rest of the war, and it set the stage for the campaign that led up to the Battle of Gettysburg.